Collecting Batman Chronicles #18, Batman #572-574, Detective Comics #739-741, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #125-126, Robin #73, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #93-94, Azrael: Agent of the Bat #59-61, Catwoman #75-77, Nightwing #38-39 and Batman: No Man's Land #0.

Batman Chronicles #18 is written by Devin Grayson and illustrated by Dale Eaglesham. Leslie Thompkins tries to keep her hospital neutral and look No Man's Land's sick and injured no matter which faction they belong to. That may all change when an injured Mr. Zsasz is brought in.

I had forgotten that Doctor Thompkins had one of Black Mask's ex-goons working for her. I hadn't seen him since Scarecrow experimented on that refugee centre set up by the two priests. It looked like the rest of Black Mask's goons killed Mikey for leaving them, but I guess he survived after all. It also turns out that Zsasz tuned up at Dr. Thompkins's makeshift hospital because he got into a scrape with Killer Croc, presumably after her attacked one of Croc's homeless friends. I guess that's what you get for messing with somebody who is friends with a hulking crocodile man.

Batman #572 is written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Damion Scott. Two-Face has kidnapped Detective Montoya and her whole family. Then his goons capture Commissioner Gordon and plan to hold him on trial.

Two-Face really needs to think about who he uses for his lackeys. This time he's working with a loser like Tally Man. I guess Harvey's limited to which other villains he can work with seeing what sort of state Gotham is in so he ends up having to work with the nobodies. Also, I think Two-Face is barking up the wrong tree if he has a crush on Montoya. Although, we don't know about her sexuality yet. Greg Rucka would also write the Gotham Central story line where Montoya is outed, so there may be some connection.

Detective Comics #739 is written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Damion Scott. Two-Face condemns Commissioner Gordon for breaking an agreement the pair had. However, Gordon demands that Harvey Dent acts as his defence.

Two-Face holding a phoney trail has been used before. Last time was during the Knightfall story arc when Harvey held Batman on trial. Both trials came about because of the perceived betrayals of the accused. Two-Face felt that Batman betrayed Harvey Dent for breaking the promise of working together to fight crime while Commissioner Gordon supposedly went against a mutual defence agreement they had. I suppose it is inevitable stories will end up being repeated when you have a comic book go on as long as this one has.

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #125 is written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Rick Burchett. Commissioner Gordon wrote Batman off after he seemingly abandoned Gotham City in its hour of need. Now Batman is determined to set everything right again.

Batman's relationship with Jim Gordon has gone through some rough patches recently. After Knightfall there were a series of different people wearing the cowl, a change that Gordon wasn't informed of. Things seemed to return for normal as the original Batman came back, but then he disappeared just as the United States government decided to cut off Gotham from the rest of the city. It's understandable that Gordon would want some answers. Batman tries to reveal his secret identity to Gordon, but he isn't interested. If Gordon wanted to know Batman's secret identity, then he could have discovered it years ago. Or maybe he already knows that Batman is Bruce Wayne.

Azrael: Agent of the Bat #59 is written by Dennis O'Neil and illustrated by Roger Robinson. Batman has charged Catwoman to smuggle an important item into Gotham and it is Azrael's job to make sure she is successful.

Azrael and Catwoman butted heads before, back when Jean-Paul Valley was Batman. She was one fo the few people that could tell that the new Batman wasn't the original in a fancy new suit. It goes without saying that they didn't get on too well. They don't actually meet face-to-face in this issue. One of those Hardcase guys from Catwoman's own book is still after her, but Azrael is there to see him off.

Catwoman #75 is written by John Ostrander and illustrated by Jim Balent. Catwoman has been double-crossed and lies on death's door as she continues on her mission to smuggle the stolen discs into Gotham.

I'm not sure where this story fits in the story. Last time in Catwoman's own book she barely survived an encounter with a mysterious woman she tried to con into buying copies of the discs batman assigned her to find. Then in Azrael's book she shows up alive and well to hand the discs over to Batman without any mention of her trying to sell off the discs. Maybe this issue should have been placed before the Azrael issue.

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #93 is written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Paul Ryan. Batman gathers his allies together for the final battle as the mysterious benefactor behind the possible reconstruction of Gotham is revealed and it is... Lex Luthor?

I guess I can stop pretending not to know who the person is that has been shipping goods into Gotham now. It hasn't been much of a mystery when you take into account that the mysterious person has been employing an Amazonian bodyguard. Mercy hasn't been named yet, but it's clear who she is supposed to be for anybody that has seen the Superman animated series. Mercy is another character, like Harley Quinn and Renee Montoya, who is a character from the DC Animated Universe that has been brought into the comics.

Nightwing #38 is written by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by Scott McDaniel. Oracle is nursing a battered Nightwing back to health when Billy Pettit and his rogue cops pay them an unwelcome visit.

I am mostly a Dick/Kory shipper, but even I have to admit that Dick and Barbara make a cute couple. They are an acceptable couple if I can't have Nightwing and Starfire together. I always enjoy it when people underestimate Barbara Gordon. They think she is just a woman in a wheelchair, but we know she is far more than that. She might not be able to walk, but she is more than capable of handling herself.

Nightwing #39 is written by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by Scott McDaniel. Nightwing and Oracle are under siege by Billy Pettit and the Strong Men, but whose side is Huntress on?

If I remember correctly, Nightwing and Huntress had a brief fling in some mini-series or other. Well, that's going to be awkward now that he and Oracle are showing signs of getting back together. Any way, it was still satisfying to see oracle use her tricked-out clock tower to take out the rogue cops. I'm still not entirely sure why they wanted Oracle in the first place. Maybe as a bargaining chip against Commissioner Gordon?

Batman: No Man's Land #0 is written by Jordan B. Gorfinkel and Greg Rucka and illustrated by Greg Land. Three months have passed since Gotham's bridges where destroyed, trapping everyone in the city. Batman is nowhere to be seen, so Helena Bertinelli decides to take up the cowl of Batgirl in his place.

This issue is placed here, but it is set before the events of No Man's Land #1. I guess it has to be placed here because of the whole mystery behind the new Batgirl. We have since found out that the new Batgirl was Helena Bertinelli, Huntress. She decides to become Batgirl because nobody fears her as Huntress like they do with Batman. We also find out part of what Bruce Wayne has been up to since he failed in his attempt to stop the government from shutting off Gotham. He has tried using his influence to get the other rich folks to lend a hand.

Batman #573 is written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Sergio Cariello. The reconstruction of Gotham begins as the Joker and Harley Quinn step back into the limelight in an attempt to sabotage the efforts of Gotham's saviour.

Lex Luthor comes to Gotham to rebuild the city. It isn't made clear just yet why he is doing it, something about buying property I think. Any way, while Batman is investigating what Luthor is up to, the Joker is still salty because Batman keeps sending his underlings after him. I don't know why the Joker acts like he has been away for a long time, Huntress had to deal with his phoney election campaign in the last volume.

Detective Comics #740 is written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Sergio Cariello. While the Joker and Harley Quinn's efforts to sabotage the reconstruction of Gotham, Huntress begins to question her decision to side with an increasingly insane Billy Pettit.

The cover of this issue is an homage to the cover of Batman #497 with Bane breaking the Joker over his knee. The actual fight between Bane and the Joker was a bit of a letdown, It was over too quickly in my opinion. Bane slapped the Joker around a bit before Mercy showed up to see him off. We do find out why Bane is working of Luthor though. He will get control of Santa Prisca. Presumably Bane wants to get rid off the drug lords that control the island.

Azrael: Agent of the Bat #60 is written by Dennis O'Neil and illustrated by Roger Robinson. Azrael and Batgirl are tasked with evacuating hundreds of innocents from the Joker's territory before he makes his move against the city.

In previous volumes I said that I enjoyed the friendship that seemed to be growing between Azrael and Batgirl. This issue is more of the same and now we get to see them fight the Joker. Unfortunately, it turns out to be one of the Joker's henchman that he dressed up to look like him.

Catwoman #76 is written by John Ostrander and illustrated by Jim Balent. An injured Catwoman is forced to seek shelter with the Penguin. Hurt by Luthor's betrayal, the Penguin convinces Catwoman to steal anything she can from him as revenge.

The Penguin doesn't appreciate Luthor disrupting his scheme to profit from the black market and Catwoman previously had a run-in with Luthor's henchwoman Mercy, so she is more than happy to stick it to him. We also find out why Catwoman felt it necessary to add those silly whiskers to her costume. It turns out that each one of them is a wire lock-pick. I wonder if the writer made that up when readers wrote in to complain.

Catwoman #77 is written by John Ostrander and illustrated by Jim Balent. Catwoman uses the battle suits she stole from Lex Luthor to strike against Luthor's work camp. However, the Penguin has his own plans for betrayal.

It was fun to see Catwoman wreak havoc with all the battle suits. Unfortunately, that did mean the reconstruction of Gotham was delayed. Batman couldn't have been happy when he found out what she was up to, even if we did get some pretty explosions. I did get a chuckle out of seeing Catwoman being a troll to Lex though. Sometimes it is just good to people stick it to the rich jerks.

Azrael: Agent of the Bat #61 is written by Dennis O'Neil and illustrated by Roger Robinson. The Joker has kidnapped babies from all over Gotham and it comes down to Azrael and Batgirl to save them.

Azrael and Batgirl bond over their similar histories, how they were trained to be killers but subsequently turned their backs on the training. Well, Azrael talked about their similar histories. Batgirl isn't one for talking much. I guess this is a Christmas issue as Oracle gives Azrael and Batgirl gifts. Batgirl gets perfume while Azrael gets a harmonica. There was a really sweet moment where Azrael plays his harmonica and Batgirl dances. It's a pity that No Man's Land is going to end soon and everybody will be going their separate ways. That means that we won't get any more scenes of Azrael and Batgirl being friends.

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #126 is written by Devin Grayson and Greg Rucka and illustrated by Dale Eaglesham and Damion Scott. While Batman and his allies search for the Joker and the missing babies, Huntress prepares to stop the unstable Pettit from going too far.

The Joker's plan to kidnap all the babies in Gotham seems awfully like the Penguin's plan in Batman Returns. I think the Penguin's plan was to kidnap every firstborn son, but it was still a plan involving kidnapping babies. Batman Returns was set during Christmas as well, just like this issue. The Joker hates it when people copy his ideas, but nobody cares when he rips off other people's ideas. or maybe I'm thinking too much about it.

Batman #574 is written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Dale Eaglesham. The Joker and Harley Quinn are running wild with no Batman in sight, leaving Huntress as the only one to stand a chance against stopping them.

Everybody in Gotham seemed to be enjoying themselves celebrating, but the atmosphere in Billy Pettit's stronghold looked really grim. The Joker attacks Pettit's place where everybody was attending a mandatory Christmas dinner and goads him into coming out. Huntress knows that it's a trap, but Pettit is too far gone and won't listen to reason. He just wants to shoot some bad guys, never mind all the innocents that would be caught in the crossfire. Huntress is always looking for Batman's approval, so he had better appreciate her standing up to Joker's men all on her own or he will seem like an even bigger jerk than usual.

Detective Comics #741 is written by Devin Grayson and Greg Rucka and illustrated by Dale Eaglesham and Damion Scott. Batman and his allies launch a final assault against the Joker, but one person will make an ultimate sacrifice to save Gotham's future.

The Bat-family and the GCPD all split up to search for the missing babies, but the Joker ends up leading them all on a wild goose chase. All of the potential hiding places were booby-trapped. The Joker had taken the opportunity to sneak into police headquarters while everybody was off looking for the babies to hide them there. Lieutenant Sarah Essen returned to headquarters to get a new radio and ends up walking right into the Joker's trap.

Robin #73 is written by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by N. Steven Harris. Jack Drake is determined to get his son out of No Man's Land by any means necessary. Batman sends Batgirl to watch over Robin, but all the action attracts the attention of a local gang.

The continuity of this collection is all over the place. In the previous issue of Batman, Tim and his father were having a pleasant Christmas dinner, now we're back with Jack Drake's media campaign to get his son out of No Man's Land. I think Tim is being needlessly mean towards Batgirl in this issue. He thinks that she creeps him out just because she can't talk. I suppose Tim doesn't know all about Cassandra's history yet, so I guess I can't be too angry with him. It's just that Cassandra is my favourite member of the Bat-family, so I don't like it when people badmouth her.

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #94 is written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Pablo Raimondi. Batman confronts Lex Luthor over his plot to acquire most of the land in Gotham as the rest of the city's people ring in the New Year and pay their respects to fallen allies.

Luthor is planning to snatch up the property of people that died in the earthquake that led to Gotham being shut off from the rest of the country. Bruce tipped off Lucius Fox to Luthor's wrong-doing, so Luthor tries to have Fox silenced. Batman shows up just in time to save Lucius and tells Luthor to get out of his city. I'm sure that won't come back to bite him in the bum.

Another enjoyable collection of Batman stories. My only problem with this collection was that the continuity seemed to be all over the place. It didn't help that we had several scenes repeated in different issues, like the scene with Catwoman handing over the discs to Batman. We had that three times over in Catwoman's own book, Azrael, and one of the core Batman books. I guess that's just me being pedantic as usual. Everything else was just fine. I can't complain about seeing some of my favourite characters in action.

My rating: 3.5 stars.

Next time: Hulk Visionaries- Peter David Vol. 1